palin was picked as his running mate. if it gets personal tonight, how careful do both men have to be with their tone? >> well, i actually think one of the great myths with presidential politics is that at some point somebody does a story about, hey, it's personal. these were always very competitive guys. it's like lebron and kobe, do they want to play each other? i don't know. but they want to beat each other. the discord in this race is almost less than any i have ever seen. neither of these guys are a hater. they are both very focused. they are no drama guy. and whether they dislike each other or not is immaterial. doesn't matter. >> rich stengel, thank you for your time this evening. >>> coming up, the right dusts off their old racial playbook and rush limbaugh is fanning the flames. it's ugly. >>> plus, the gop todd akin problem just got worse. you're watching a special edition of "politicsnation" as we get ready for the big night here on msnbc. stay with us. >> i don't think senator dole is too old to be president.